Include prescription drug coverage in Medicare

Q: Will you support or oppose allowing
Medicare to use its bargaining power to negotiate lower prices for needed prescription drugs?

A: Including prescription drug coverage (Part D) to Medicare has added an important new benefit. However, the addition of Part D has created confusion.
My legislation (S1581) known as the "State Medicare Part D Assistance and Information Act" establishes a toll-free hotline to respond to problems, and designates a Medicare Part D ombudsman inside the Department of Health and Senior Services.

Source: AARP Senate candidate questionnaire
Sep 29, 2006

No additional taxes for medical coverage

Q: Do you favor raising taxes to cover the forty million Americans without medical coverage?

MENENDEZ: We must expand access to affordable healthcare for everyone. Unlike my opponent, I support limiting tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% to pay for it.

Source: Hall Institute N.J. Senate Virtual Debate
Sep 24, 2006

Address Medicaid by cost containment & reducing fraud

Q: How should the nation pay for increasing Medicaid expenses?

KEAN: Given the tremendous fiscal burden that Medicaid places on the federal government, clear guidelines and fiscal rules, combined with state flexibility, could allow all parties to work
toward the equal challenge of containing ever-increasing Medicaid expenses. New Jersey must pursue non-traditional avenues of cost containment, including employing today's technological advancements to streamline paperwork, rooting out waste and fraud
and utilizing disease management programs to improve outcomes.

MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr. and his friends in the Bush administration have chosen to create bigger and bigger federal deficits by granting tax breaks to giant corporations and the super-rich,
rather than address the vital health care needs of America's families. No one should ever have to choose between filling their prescriptions and their refrigerator. Everyone deserves quality health care & access to vital medicine at an affordable price.

Source: Hall Institute N.J. Senate Virtual Debate
Sep 2, 2006

Medicare needs bipartisan independent reforms

Q: What current Medicaid coverages should be eliminated or reduced?

MENENDEZ: I'm working hard to move our nation from a disease-based health care system to a prevention-based system. Ultimately, we save both lives and money if we focus on prevention &
early diagnosis, as opposed to spending more to treat diseases once they've progressed. Last year, I wrote the Patient Navigator, Outreach & Chronic Disease Prevention Act. This bipartisan legislation guides patients through the healthcare maze, thus
reducing costs and improving efficiency.

KEAN: How is it that a tenured Congressman can speak so little about how he's worked to build bipartisan coalitions? Bob Menendez has voted at least twice against providing a prescription drug benefit for
Medicare, voted at least 3 times to cut $115 billion from the Medicare program and voted against creating tax-free Medical Savings Accounts for our seniors, families & working professionals. This is exactly why we need an independent reformer in Congress

Supports individual Health Savings Accounts

Tom believes that all New Jerseyans should have access to quality, affordable health care, and Health Savings Accounts give many Americans that opportunity. HSA's empower individuals in their health care decisions and give them an asset that they own,
control and can use for their health care as they grow older. Tom has proposed making employers' contributions to HSAs not just tax-free but also tax-deductible.